nightmare at 30000 feet
by odstpilot
Summary: Trigger has a unique night at 30,000 feet.


Rosa and Trigger left the meeting with the CEO of EASA, confident that her plans for space exploration were on track.

"Don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to a long sleep on the flight home." Rosa said, as they headed to the Lockheed Constellation that was painted in air force one colors.

"It'll be nice to get some R&R. Besides, ever since the ASAT strike your space program is starting from scratch. At least I get to test pilot all the new toys that are being made." Trigger said.

"Nice to see you're looking on the bright side." Rosa said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

As they headed to the plane, Trigger noticed an F-104 being hooked up to the older commercial plane.

"Speaking of new toys, I'm sure you're aware that EASA is using the F-104 as a test-bed." Rosa said.

"I've flown F-104s in combat. Not something I'd do again." Trigger said, as the two sat down in her room.

As they were in the air, Rosa wasted no time in falling asleep on one of the large couches. Finishing his drink, Trigger looked outside the window, seeing the clouds pass by. His training and experience kicked in, as he noticed that the clouds were getting darker; they were entering a storm.

"Yinshi valley. Still can't believe me and the old man dueled in that shit storm." He headed to a closet and grabbed some pillows and covers. After making Rosa comfortable, he headed to another couch and made himself comfortable enough to sleep.

Yet sleep eluded him. Unable to fully sleep, he looked outside the window and saw something just beyond the wingtip. Blinking and rubbing his eyes, he saw the body of a drone fighter, similar to the MQ-99 drones he fought throughout the war, fly in formation next to them.

Tearing himself away from the window with a gasp, he gripped his head and forced himself to calm down.

"It's not there. It's not there." He softly muttered to himself.

Yet his mind wouldn't leave him at peace. Why would a drone appear out of nowhere, and now in the middle of a storm? All the drones were either destroyed or shut down after the war. Were they?

Gulping, Trigger moved the curtain aside, and saw the drone flying in formation, this time much closer than before.

"Oh fuck!" He shouted, waking Rosa up.

"Trigger, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Quickly! There's a drone flying next to us!" Trigger exclaimed.

Pushing back the curtain, she saw nothing, much to Trigger's shock.

"That's impossible. I swear, there was a drone. Flying next to us." Trigger exclaimed.

"Trigger, you know as well as I do that all the drones are destroyed or in mothballs." Rosa said.

"Rosa, I'm telling you the bastard is out there. Probably waiting to shoot us down." Trigger said.

Rosa was reminded of the Twilight zone episode, nightmare at 20,000 fleet. Yet she refrained from laughing despite wanting to.

"Trigger, I suggest you take a sleeping pill." Rosa said.

"Rosa, contact the nearest AWACS. Ask them if there are fighter craft, friendly and otherwise operating near our position." Trigger said.

Rosa headed to the cockpit to instruct the pilots, while Trigger stayed in his seat and eyeballed the drone.

"What are you waiting for?" Trigger muttered.

Rosa came back, relaying news to her worried friend.

"There's no aircraft flying close to our position. Nothing's there." Rosa said, walking behind Trigger and began to massage his shoulders.

"Rosa, you have to believe me. It's out there." Trigger said, though his resistance was slowly waning.

"Trigger, I've heard that people can hallucinate if they push themselves too far." Rosa reasoned.

Trigger turned and gave Rosa an angry glare. He was not hallucinating! Why couldn't she see that?!

"Damn it, Rosa. I am not hallucinating!" Trigger exclaimed.

"I just talked with the nearest AWACS. There isn't a single fighter, manned or unmanned, flying next to us." Rosa shot back.

"During the war, drone fighters often flew in close and very tight formations next to each other. The radar signatures would merge into one. So a pilot wouldn't be going up against one drone, but against two or three drones. This drone has done the same thing. Fly close to our plane, to mask the signature. I've seen it before." Trigger replied.

While Rosa couldn't argue against his knowledge and combat experience, she also knew that all the drones were gone. She personally saw the footage that confirmed it. It was evident that Trigger was stressed and overworked. Unfortunately, now was the time it was manifesting itself.

"You need any help?" a flight assistant asked.

"My friend here claims to be seeing a drone flying next to us." Rosa said.

"Yeah, but if anyone else attempts to look, the drone is gone. I know how it seems, but it's the truth." Trigger said. Both woman looked at Trigger like he was going completely crazy.

"Oh yes. We see that all the time. It's perfectly quite harmless. No reason to get alarmed." The hostess said.

"Good. That's very good." Trigger said, seemingly at ease.

_'Damn it. God damn it! Why won't they believe me?! Now these two think I'm insane. I'm not insane! I flew in and up the space elevator. One of the arsenal birds was destroyed using a 20 year old rail gun that hasn't been fired since the last war. We've seen crazy shit happen the past 13 months. It's perfectly reasonable to expect a drone to be flying in formation next to us.'_

But Rosa was not fooled. Trigger was still worried about the drone. And Trigger's cold and angry stare only confirmed her suspicions. Yet she was also tired to deal with his apparent bout of insanity. Trigger watched as Rosa fell asleep, and he then made his move.

He briskly headed towards the armory and grabbed an AK-12 that had a collapsible stock, along with 5 extra mags. If he wanted to destroy the drone, he wasn't taking any chances. Opening a floor panel, he headed down the stairs and towards the F-104 that was embedded inside the lower hull of the Constellation.

"Here goes nothing." He muttered.

Sitting in the cockpit he closed the canopy and detached himself from the mother-plane. Starting the engine, he pulled up and went after the menacing drone fighter. Holding his breath, he put the drone in the piper and got a missile lock and pulled the trigger.

Click.

"Of course they forgot to arm this thing. What's next? The guns are empty?" he sarcastically said to himself as he switched to the nose cannon and pulled the trigger.

Once again, nothing.

"This bastard's getting away!" He growled as he chased the drone across the stormy skies. As he wracked his head for options, he noticed the drone turning to face him.

"Shit!" he shouted as he pulled up and accelerated away. Turning his head around, he saw the drone fighter turning to engage him. With one option left, he closed to the drone and opened the canopy. His vision went from bad to non-existent as the weather worked against him.

Grabbing the rifle by the pistol grip, he yanked it out of the cockpit and cycled the bolt. Standing up, he leveled the rifle at the drone's single engine and fired a long burst of rifle fire.

"DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" He shouted as loud of the storm and gunfire that enveloped him.

Rosa looked out the window in disbelief. Her boyfriend had gone crazy. She was certain of it. He was flying the F-104, as if he were chasing an enemy craft.

"The bird is unarmed. How is he going to-" Rosa started when she heard weapons fire.

Looking closer she saw Trigger firing a rifle from the cockpit, trying to kill his 'enemy'. Rosa burst out laughing, as insane as Trigger was. She watched as he flew perpendicular to her position, guns blazing.

"I better get a strait jacket for him."

Trigger discarded the 2nd magazine and put in the third one. Seeing the drone slowing down, he fired until the rifle ran out of ammunition. The drone suddenly exploded, almost pushing Trigger out of his fighter. Sitting down and closing the canopy he chased after the falling drone, seeing that the bulk of its body was still intact.

"It's over. It's fucking over." Trigger muttered, as he approached the Constellation.

…

_EASA_

_68th Exp. Squadron Base_

"What were you thinking?" Rosa asked, approaching Trigger.

"It was my decision, and I stand by it. If I had to, I'd do it all over again." Trigger said.

"You're insane, Trigger. Stealing an F-104, firing blindly into the night sky. Flying in a storm with no precautions such as a gravity suit." Rosa answered.

As the two walked away arguing like an old married couple, a TV was turned up as ENN went on.

"A drone was discovered having crashed north-east of Farbanti. EASA and the Erusean air-force deny having any drones flying in the area. While initially believed the drone has crashed, investigators from the air-force have discovered the drone was brought down by hostile fire."

"That's correct. As you can see, the attacker aimed at the engine. What we find surprising, is how it was brought down. We've examined the bullet holes in the engine. And the caliber is a rifle round, something that would be fired from an AK or an M-4 for example. It's unlikely the attacker survived the dogfight."


End file.
